I Bat You Will
by Sway1984
Summary: "You go to a batting cage?" She stopped to look at him, eyebrows quirked in surprise. - "It's cheaper and less dangerous than getting myself into bar fights." - Marti laughed at that. "And here I thought you weren't prone to whimsy."


**I Bat You Will**

"Fuck, I thought we had him." Marti stormed out of the Athletics building, hands stashed deep into the pockets of her jacket. "Smug bastard. He's going to take us all down with him."

"Well, it was a long shot to begin with." Julian caught up with her at the bicycle stand. "He's been living with this for quite a while now. It was highly unlikely he would give up all that easily."

"I know," her shoulders sagged as she slung the heavy duty lock around the handle with more force than needed. "It's just that... this was our last straw. It's all coming apart now."

"While I don't believe in spreading false hope...," he smiled his lop-sided smile at her, "maybe he's going to come around. Give him some time."

"Well, how much time?" Marti snapped. "A week, a month? Travis is innocent and we have proof. The sooner he gets out of jail, the better."

"I agree. But did you really think that he'd just turn on a dime because we told him it was the right thing?"

Marti looked at her professor for a long moment. "Maybe." She sighed. "So this is what it's like? You're trying to do the right thing, get people out of jail, and the bad guys just tell you 'no'?"

"Sometimes. It's one of things you have to get used to as a lawyer. You can't always win."

She nodded. "I know. It's just damn frustrating. I mean.. we gave him a chance and all." She ran a hand through her hair, smoothing her curls out of her face. "So how do I deal with this? What do you do to unwind?"

They started down the sidewalk towards Cheertown.

"Well...," Julian hesitated for a moment. "I sit down with a beer and my guitar."

"Really?" Marti shot him a sideways glance, nodding in approval. "Never pegged you for the musical type."

"Or," he ignored her, "I bat."

"You bet? On what? Dogs? Horses?"

He grinned. "No. I bat. As in baseball."

"You go to a batting cage?" She stopped to look at him, eyebrows quirked in surprise.

"It's cheaper and less dangerous than getting myself into bar fights."

Marti laughed at that. "And here I thought you weren't prone to whimsy."

He tried to hide a smile, shifting from one leg to the other, hands stuffed deep into his pockets. "You'd be surprised what else happens once the tie comes off."

A beat passed between them, uncomfortable and suddenly very intimate.

Marti blinked as he cleared his throat. "Come on." He nodded in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?" she asked, already following him.

"Letting off some steam."

###

It was a quarter after seven and the batting cages were already closed.

"So, are we going to break in? Because there is only so much 'right gone wrong' I can handle for one night." Marti leaned her bike against the chain-link fence.

"Actually," Julian pulled a key chain from his pocket, "we are going to let ourselves in."

"You have a key to the batting cages?"

"Well, someone once told me that a faculty ID and a honeysuckle Southern accent could get me anything."

Marti rolled her eyes, trying to hide the blush on her cheeks. "I'm never going to hear the end of that one, am I?"

"No." Julian unlocked the gate, pushed it open and motioned her to go through. "Truth is, I gave the supervisor some legal advice. And instead of paying my expenses, he gave me a key."

"Another lost cause." She nodded, knowingly.

"You could say that."

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what?" With the same key, he unlocked a metal locker behind the counter.

"Take up lost causes? Teach here? Jake was right. You could be in a huge firm, or have your own practice."

"Same reason you do, Miss Perkins." He handed her an aluminum bat and a helmet.

"To get away from your mother?"

The corner of his mouth quirked into a smile. "Because at some point, I realized that the law and what is right are sometimes two very different things. And if I can make so much as the fraction of a difference..." His words trailed off as he held open the door to one of the cages.

"I get that." She looked up at him, matching his smile. "It's the kind of thing I'd do."

Another beat passed between them.

"So, you've done this before?" Julian was the first to speak, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Marti pulled her hair together to put on the helmet. "We played a bit of softball in high school."

"Alright. Set your interval to slow and when you're ready, push the button."

"I need some change."

"Right." He dug into his pocket to produce a few quarters. As he handed them to her, their fingers lingered against one another for a moment too long until Marti pulled her hand away as if burned.

"Thanks." She quickly turned away from him, inserted the coins into the slot of the automate, pushed the 'Go'-button and assumed her position.

"You might not want to stand too squarely in front of the ball machine," Julian instructed her.

"Or it might hit me where it hurts?"

"Exactly." He smirked at her. "I learned that one the hard way."

"Ouch." Marti took her first swing but missed. The second and third went into the net as well. "And this is going to help me unwind how? So far it's only making me more frustrated."

"That's because your swinging wrong. Stop the machine." Julian waited until she had done so, then stepped into the cage with her. "I'll show you."

With the slightest hesitation, he stepped into her personal space, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Now, put your feet at shoulder's width. Elbows up. And don't take the bat too far back or your arch will be too wide." His fingers closed over her's and he guided the bat in the right position. "And when the ball is at the peak of its trajectory, you swing."

Nudging the back of her knee with his, he made her bend at the waist, mimicking a strike.

Marti tried hard to ignore her professor's close presence, the heat radiating off his body, his tall frame pressed up against her back, his low voice trickling down her senses like warm caramel. And even more did she try to ignore his hot breath in the back of her neck as they repeated the motion.

This was not good.

She had to clear her throat before she spoke. "I think I got it now."

Without a word, he stepped back from her, fingers ghosting up her arms.

She didn't turn around before she heard the chain-link fence clink shut again. Then she pushed the button to launch the next ball, trying to shake off the sensation still lingering against her skin.

What the hell had just happened here?

Naturally, she missed the first ball by almost a foot.

"Channel your frustration and focus on the ball."

A chill ran down her spine at the sound of Julian's voice. She puffed out a breath, steeling herself.

Channeling her frustration was easy. Jake. Jake and that stupid prank. Jake who would willingly let another man rot in prison for the rest of his life. Jake and Bill Marsh and everybody who had their hands in this. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right.

The bat hit the ball, sending it into the fence on the opposite side of the cage.

Marti let out a whoop of excitement, thrusting a fist in the air.

She hit the next dozen balls as well, her anger slowly dissipating.

Sweat started trickling down her spine and she ran the back of her hand over her forehead. Cheerleading was one thing but this was a different kind of exhaustion. Something that went deeper than just into her muscles.

The pitching machine dispensed the last ball, then clicked mechanically before it switched itself off.

Leaning on the bat, Marti took a moment to catch her breath, and to try and figure out how to face Julian.

A little to her surprise, she found him sitting on the bench outside the cage, shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows, drinking from a can of coke. She grinned at the sight of his tie laying in a bundle at his side, top button of his shirt undone.

"You got another were that one come from?" She pointed at the beverage.

He smirked at her, then handed her a can of diet coke. "You're an athlete, right?"

She matched his expression. "Very funny, professor."

"So how do you feel?"

Marti popped the can, took a sip and slumped down on the bench next to him. "Better. I mean... I'd be great if Jake would change his mind but... better. Of course, it gives this whole three strikes thing an entirely different meaning."

Julian laughed a low little laugh at that. "I am aware of the irony."

They sat in silence for a while before Marti spoke again.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why is this so important to you? Overturning the law."

Julian hesitated for a long moment. "I suppose you don't want to hear another lecture about it being unconstitutional and unjust."

"Save that for the next class."

He nodded with a lop-sided smile. "My brother is doing time in **West Tennessee State** ."

Marti hesitated, surprised. "What for?"

"Fraud, mostly." Julian cleared his throat. "He's a couple of years younger than me. He's a good guy but... all he ever heard from our parents was: 'Why can't you be like your brother?' and 'Julian's going to be a lawyer, you don't even know what you will major in.' So he tried to impress them. Unfortunately with the wrong means."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He is guilty of his crimes. He has hurt quite a few people. But there's others who have done far worse and they get off easy."

"Will overturning the law get him out?"

"No, but he could come out on probation." He took another sip from his drink. "You would like him."

"Why? Because I'm the black sheep of the family?" She thought about that for a second. "Which, in my case, would actually make me only decent one."

Julian turned to look at her, his expression serious. "Because you know how to impress people."

"I'll take that as a compliment... I guess."

"Which will make you a great litigator," he continued, unperturbed.

Marti looked at him, puzzled. "You think? Because I recall a similar conversation where you told me I wasn't cut to be a lawyer."

"Am I not allowed to change my mind?"

"Don't mind if you do."

He looked at her for a long moment, expression unreadable except for the little glint in his eyes. "I hope you don't need to drop out."

"Me, too."

Silence stretched between them, thick, uncomfortable and heavy with a whole lot of meaning.

"I, uhm...," Marti said after a long awkward minute. "I should get back. I want to go by the prison, tell Travis the news." She rose from the bench, straightening her clothes. "And then I have a toga party to attend to."

"A toga party?" Julian raised his eyebrows as he followed her to the main gate.

"Yeah, it was Savannah's idea. It's when you..."

He held up a hand. "I know what a toga party is. I went to college, too."

"Now there is an image...," Marti heard herself say before she could stop herself. Her cheeks flushed crimson. "Sorry."

Julian smirked at her. "I've seen the Hellcats calendar. I'd say we're even now."

She could help but laugh. At least it took the edge off her embarrassment.

"Thank you," she said. "For giving this a try even though it was bound to fail. And for this." She pointed at the batting cage.

"Any time." He stashed his hands into his pockets. "And if you need it, I'll get you another key."

She nodded. "I might take you up on that." She hesitated for a second before she went up on tiptoes gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Then she took her bike and swung one legs across the saddle. "Good night, professor."

Julian watched her as she started off towards the main road. With a slow smile curling his mouth, he murmured more to himself than to her: "Good night, Miss Perkins."

/table

/lj-cut


End file.
